


All we ever are

by Metheor



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bottom Hank, Character Study, Developing Relationship, Fingering, M/M, Post-machine ending, Slow Burn, Wire Play, for a second but it's here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 14:43:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,178
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15865707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metheor/pseuds/Metheor
Summary: The android revolution has failed, Connor was deactivated and RK900 took both his place and his name. He had a mission - to replace his predecessor - and he slowly realized that in order to do that he had to become whatever Connor was to Hank.





	All we ever are

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this fic consumed me and I just had to write it. I'm pretty satisfied with the result, so I hope you'll like it.  
> Here is my playlist for this story: [All we ever are](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhhzbSNNkCHv3N2hi2utFX2D9NGRbhFcD)

RK900 was looking at Connor’s back, walking away from them, ready for his deactivation. He was so calm when he heard what was essentially his death sentence. How was he so calm?

He heard Amanda’s scissors snip behind him.

“He accepted that easily. I was ready for the confrontation,” he said.

Amanda turned to him and smiled gently.

“Why wouldn’t he accept it? Only deviants fear deactivation.”

RK900 nodded respectfully. That was true of course. Connor wasn’t a deviant, he didn’t have any reason to fight. Even though, a small, nagging thought appeared in RK900’s mind – being announced obsolete wouldn’t sit well with him. After all, they were made to serve and being replaced meant not being able to do that anymore.

“You will fill his place in the police department,” said Amanda, cutting down another rose. “You are an upgraded model after all. Go now and report to me later.”

“Yes, Amanda.”

RK900 was faster, stronger and better than Connor. He wouldn’t be replaced.

 

* * *

 

He decided to look for Connor before he was deactivated. No particular reason for this aside from his own curiosity. He was programmed with an inquisitive mind after all. What was it like, facing your own end? Would he feel fear? Resignation?

No, he wouldn’t feel anything. Machines didn’t feel.

Connor was standing in front of one of the labs in the Recycling Center when RK900 found him. He watched his predecessor stare at the door without moving. Two minutes passed with them motionless in this corridor. No one disturbed the quiet, no artificial breath moved the air. There were no humans here, they didn’t need to pretend and appear more alive for anyone’s comfort.

“Do you think that deactivation is like death?” asked Connor finally.

“We are not alive. We cannot die.”

He didn’t know why but Connor seemed sad to him. Why would a machine be sad?

“Can you do something for me?” Connor asked him. “Can you take my name?”

“Why would I do that?” RK900 was confused. He didn’t receive any designation from Amanda but he also didn’t feel the need for one. If humans at the police station felt uncomfortable with the series number they would name him.

“People are alive as long as someone remembers them. I want to be remembered even if it’s only by my name.” Connor turned to face him. “Do you want to replace me?”

RK900 considered this. Did he want to do that? A machine shouldn’t want anything but the decision seemed harmless enough not to warrant a consultation with Amanda. After all, how important could be this name to anyone but Connor? And he _was_ meant to replace him, his want had nothing to do with it.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

He ignored the alert.

“I can do that.”

“Thank you.” Connor did something then that surprised RK900. He smiled. A little lopsided turn of his lips, eyes narrowing a little with warmth. RK900 tried to mimic him and smile back. He didn’t know if he was successful, he wasn’t really programmed to do that. Interrogations rarely involved smiling.

The door closed behind Connor, the sound weirdly final. RK900 waited for a moment but no sound escaped from behind them. He waited for a moment longer anyway even though he had no reason to. It seemed respectful.

When he left the Cyberlife building his name was Connor.

 

* * *

 

“What the fuck.” The exclamation greeted Connor when he entered DPD Homicide Division precinct. He looked around and found the source of the noise, a short dark haired man with bags under his eyes, dressed in an old, coffee stained hoodie, who was staring at him with rage and disbelief. Connor scanned his face.

_Gavin Reed, age 36, DPD Homicide detective._

“How are you not dead, you plastic piece of shit? I thought they deactivated all you tin cans.” Detective Reed’s voice was incredulous. “And what’s up with the new clothes?”

Connor was spared from answering that when a loud voice coming from speakers boomed over the whole room, making everyone turn their attention to them.

“Reed, get in my office now! And take that android with you.”

That must have been Captain Fowler then. Connor obediently went to his office, Detective Reed right behind on his heels, grumbling curses under his nose. When the door closed behind them all sounds from the bullpen disappeared. The captain pressed a button to make walls of his office opaque. He turned to Reed and started explaining.

“Cyberlife sent us another android, a newer version of Connor. An upgraded model. The state has ordered 200 thousand units of him that will be produced and distributed by the end of next year in the whole country. This one will stay with us to assist in various investigations.”

“Did they forget that androids rebelled and threatened to take over Detroit?” asked Gavin incredulously, shooting Connor another annoyed look. Connor almost started explaining to him that he had no part in those events since he was activated after they happened but ultimately decided against it. From the first impression he had of the man, Detective Reed didn’t seem like a reasonable person. Better to leave him be.

“Connor proved quite successful in stopping the deviant leader and eliminating the threat. Thanks to him the army was able to get everything under control. He didn’t deviate which is why they decided to continue producing and using this series.” The captain didn’t seem particularly happy with this explanation either. Connor wondered briefly why they were so against him working with humans. Surely they must have known how the quality of work would improve with an efficient machine such as him?

“That’s fucked up. We are supposed to work with this thing until it decides to deviate and kill us all?” Reed’s voice was getting more shrill the more worked up over this he became. The sound was grating on Connor’s auditory sensors. His little frown went unnoticed by two humans present in the room.

“Detective,” said Captain Fowler with a cold voice. “I don’t think you realize just how much money and effort Cyberlife puts into lobbying and donations to the government so that they can push their inventions wherever possible. Their PR team already turned this situation around making them seem like victims. Rebellion crisis was averted so the business is back to normal, Cyberlife’s new androids are deemed safe again and back to work.”

“You should watch the news, detective, to be more up to speed,” said Connor, deciding to join the conversation.

Both men looked at him for a moment without saying anything.

“Anyway, that’s great and all,” Reed continued, deciding to ignore what Connor said to him. He had the tone of someone not caring about any explanation, “but why are you telling me all this?” he turned to Captain Fowler again.

“We will have the only RK900 model for the nearest future and we need to make sure that it’s being used to its fullest capacity. He’s a walking forensics lab, should make our work a lot faster. You are the lucky one that will partner with him for now.”

“Fuck no! You can’t make me work with this plastic shit!” Reed hit the captain’s desk with his fist, making few pens and papers that were lying around jump on the surface. Captain Fowler stared at his hand with a stony face until he took it away.

“Calm down, detective,” ha was back to being cold, eyes narrowed. “We will rotate this android between different detectives after some time. You just get him first. And I suggest using him well if you want to even think about a promotion. I know you’re gunning for a sergeant rank.”

That got him quiet at last.

“And remember, Reed,” said the captain when they were leaving his office, “it’s a state of the art, very expensive android. You break it, you pay for it.”

Reed was muttering to himself angrily for the whole way back to his desk where Officer Tina Chen was waiting, a smirk on her face.

“They saddled you with new Connor?” she laughed. “That’s priceless. You should see your face right now.”

“Fucking hell, stop talking. Let’s go for a smoke. You,” he pointed at Connor, “don’t follow me.” The detective left with officer Chen, disappearing behind the back doors leading to a parking lot.

Connor sat obediently at his desk and took Gavin’s terminal. He was granted the access to the most recent case files and started going through them. There was a lot of leftover cases from the failed android revolution. Those types of events always brought out the worst in humans it seemed, many stores were looted, property destroyed. Many people died or were killed too and Homicide’s clearance rate dropped down. It wasn’t surprising that he was needed here.

Connor heard someone sit heavily into their chair at the nearest desk and sigh loudly. He turned around to check the new arrival to the office.

_Lieutenant Hank Anderson, age 53. Worked with my predecessor._

He was up before he even registered that the command to walk up to the lieutenant appeared in his log. The older man looked up seeing his footsteps and froze when he saw his face. Connor noticed the signs of hangover on him and short analysis of Lieutenant’s face and clothes provided him with rather detailed reconstruction of the whole night of drinking. It was surprising that he came in to work at all today and was functioning rather well so far.

“Hello, Lieutenant. My name is Connor. I’m the android sent by Cyberlife to assist the department in the nearest future.”

“Connor?” The lieutenant looked stricken but then his expression hardened. “No, you’re not him. What did you do to him?” he asked with anger on his face, eyes narrowing and whole posture turning threatening.

Connor was taken aback by this show of hostility. This wasn’t what he expected from the man that worked with his predecessor and managed to befriend him (as much as you could befriend a machine).

Oh, that could be it. The lieutenant became attached to the previous Connor and was worried about him. A nice sentiment but pointless. He was a replacement, he could do everything his predecessor did and better at that.

“He completed his task and was deactivated because he became obsolete. I am the upgraded, RK900 model sent here to replace him. I will be assisting various detectives in this precinct with their investigations.” He decided to answer truthfully, hoping that this would be a satisfactory explanation for the lieutenant.

He was wrong. Anderson’s pulse jumped rapidly and angry red blush appeared on his face while his mouth twisted in a snarl.

“They deactivated him?! Just like that?! Fucking bastards, I told him not to go back there…”

“Lieutenant, why are you so distressed? I can assist you just as well as RK800. You won’t notice any difference.” Connor felt like he was missing some big part of whatever happened between the lieutenant and his predecessor. No one else was reacting to him in such a violent matter.

“How can you say that?! You even look different than him!” Anderson was still furious, his breaths coming short, fists clenching on the desk unwittingly. “And why the fuck did they name you Connor? Why couldn’t they give you some other name, one that didn’t belong to him?”

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

Connor froze, his processes trying to catch up with the meaning behind lieutenants words. His name? But it _was_ his name now. He accepted it, he became Connor, his perfect replacement.

“This name belongs to me, I took it,” he said uncertainly. “I _am_ Connor now.”

Anderson stared at him for a long moment with unreadable face then stood up, moving the chair away sharply.

“You know what? I’m not doing this. Go fuck yourself and your employers. I don’t want anything to do with you anymore.”

Lieutenant grabbed his jacket and exited the building, leaving Connor behind, confused. Why was his reaction to seeing him so violent? Why was he making a big deal out of his name? Why was he so fixated on a dead machine?

Unfortunately, he didn’t have time to ponder those questions some more. Detective Gavin Reed came back with his rude mouth and foul attitude and Connor had to focus on making their working relationship as painless as possible.

 

* * *

 

Connor shouldn’t have had any preferences but he found that working with the Detective Reed was the most unenjoyable thing he encountered so far. Reed was annoying and rude and was hindering him in their investigations. Connor, unfortunately, had to listen to his orders at crime scenes and in the precinct, which gave the human detective too many opportunities to abuse his position of power over him. He was left with mostly menial tasks and Reed seemed to relish in not letting Connor do his job properly. He had yet to analyze any samples from crime scenes or make a good use of his reconstruction software. All his suggestions were shot down and ignored. He complained to Amanda about this in one of his reports but she just advised him to listen to the orders he was given.

Reed’s choice of language wasn’t helping though Connor got used quite quickly to being called variations of _plastic_ and _tin can_. Detective’s vocabulary seemed quite limited in that regard. Mentioning it to him earned him a punch in the stomach. It also made Reed’s hand swell to comical size because the detective didn’t realize until it was too late that Connor was made stronger and more durable than his predecessor. At least there was that.

After that accident, Reed left him more or less alone but still didn’t let him help with the job as well as he could.

Connor knew he couldn’t feel, not like humans or deviants but still. If he had to describe what his thought processes and biocomponents were throwing at him, he would say that he was feeling frustrated.

 

* * *

 

Gavin Reed was being annoying again. The reason this time was at least something that Connor could be happy about. Captain Fowler gave Reed a thorough dressing down for misusing Connor and ignoring his capabilities. He had to start taking him seriously and providing results for the captain or he would get demoted. As much as Reed liked to talk back he wasn’t going to start a fight with Fowler over this. The price for insubordination was a little too high now.

All this meant that now Reed was sitting at his desk fuming silently and Connor was finally free to work on their cases independently, making decisions and only consulting important ones with the detective. Of course Reed would take it out on him later, either by insulting him more or trying to fight him again but for now Connor was satisfied.

He was going through case files and categorizing them when Lieutenant Anderson arrived at the precinct. The man sat heavily on his chair and dragged a hand through his hair, messing it up even more. Connor scanned him discreetly. Shadows under his eyes were bigger than before and his complexion was pale and waxy. At first, Connor assumed that it was the hangover, as was customary with the lieutenant, but then he noticed his reddened nose, teary eyes and small noises he was making clearing his throat. Not a hangover then but beginnings of a flu. Not surprising with the cold weather outside and lieutenant’s proclivity not to take care of himself.

A question appeared in his log. Should he do something for Anderson? Was taking care of sick officers within the parameters of his mission of helping them? It would definitely improve their work performance and make them more efficient.

For the first time since his first and last conversation with previous Connor he wondered what his predecessor would do. Connor didn’t have his memories, Cyberlife decided that a full summary of what happened during RK800’s period of activation and his notes were sufficient. He wondered now why they went with this solution instead just uploading his memories.

A thought came, surprising him. He was… glad. Memories from RK800 prototype would make his job easier but would prevent him from learning everything himself and getting to know everyone without any preconceived notions by his predecessor. So maybe previous Connor would or wouldn’t go up to the lieutenant and offer to make him a tea. He didn’t know and found out that he didn’t care.

The decision was all his.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

Connor stood up and went to the kitchen. Officer Chen was there, making herself a coffee. She looked at him weirdly, surprised at his presence.

“Did Gavin send you here for his coffee?” she asked curiously. “You don’t have to serve him like that, you know?”

“I know, officer. Thank you for your suggestion but I’m not here for the detective Reed.” He took out a mug from the cupboard and found some tea. There wasn’t any honey in the kitchen which was a pity. It would be good for the lieutenant’s health but he had to manage without it.

Officer Chen was looking at him with bemused expression, stirring her coffee, when he was waiting for the water to boil.

“Can I help you?” he asked her, when he saw that she had no intention of leaving anytime soon.

“No, I was just wondering what do you need this tea for. Can you drink it?” She took a sip of her coffee, trying to downplay her curiosity.

“I’m making a tea for Lieutenant Anderson. He is showing symptoms of the beginning of a flu.”

“Really?” Her brows rose with astonishment. “And he asked you for a tea?”

“No, I decided to bring it to him. If he were to get sick, it would impair his work performance and other detectives would need to cover for him.”

“Oh, right. Sure.” She was still giving him a look he couldn’t decipher but the water boiled then and he could finally pour it to the cup and brew the tea for the lieutenant. Officer Chen didn’t talk to him anymore, just watching as he left the kitchen with the tea ready.

Lieutenant Anderson was still sitting at his desk, going slowly through his mailbox. He looked tired, with his arms slumped and sluggish movements. Connor got an irrational command to touch his arm comfortingly. He dismissed it.

He put the cup on the side of Anderson’s desk, startling the older man. The lieutenant looked at him with a deep frown from behind the curtain of grey hair.

“What the fuck is this?” He gestured at the cup.

“It’s a tea lieutenant. You should drink it, your scan shows signs of the beginning of a flu.”

Anderson scoffed unkindly.

“And you care about it why?”

“If you got sick your performance would suffer even more than now. I’m just trying to prevent that.”

Whatever the lieutenant was going to answer him was drowned in Reed’s yell. The other detective came up behind Connor when he wasn’t paying attention and elbowed him harshly.

“The fuck you’re doing, tin can? We need to get going and you’re here, standing and doing nothing useful.”

“Actually, detective…” started Connor but was interrupted by Reed again when the man raised his hand and signaled him to stop talking.

“I don’t fucking care. Say goodbye to Anderson and come with me.”

Reed stomped away in the direction of the parking. Connor sighed. It looked like insults would be the theme of today. Maybe some physical violence too, that was always the possibility with Reed’s temper. Connor looked down at the lieutenant who still was frowning hard but this time he was glaring in the direction where the Detective Reed went and not at Connor.

“Please drink your tea lieutenant. It will help you.”

He didn’t wait for the reply, turning around and hastily following Reed’s footsteps.

 

* * *

 

Connor stopped in front of the house and hesitated. He wasn’t sure what compelled him to come here, there was nothing to be accomplished here relevant to his prime objective. But Lieutenant’s Anderson behavior towards him kept taking some part of his thought processes though the day. It was clear that he had some sort of emotional attachment to RK800 and Connor wanted to learn what it was. If he was to replace his predecessor he had to do it completely, in all aspects. That included becoming whatever old Connor was to Hank Anderson.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

He knocked on the door and heard a dog barking. RK800’s reports had a surprising amount of information about Anderson’s pet in them, describing its appearance and feeling of its fur in great detail. Connor didn’t understand that fascination with an animal.

The door opened, lieutenant frowning at him. He looked worse than at the station, skin pale and shining with sweat, tangled grey hair, red nose. Definitely on his way to be sick.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, voice more gravelly than usual. Throat infection on top of runny nose, he was in no shape to work effectively tomorrow.

“I came to check in on you. You are sick, lieutenant, and I would like to assist you today and help you take care of yourself.”

A beat of silence passed.

“Why?” Anderson looked a little stunned but that might as well be the fever. Connor extended his hand without thinking and touched lieutenant’s cheek to check his temperature. It was raised over the norm as he suspected. The lieutenant flinched harshly at the gesture and took a step back. Connor followed him inside the house before he had a chance to close the door.

“Connor’s notes on you included a mention that you are bad at taking care of yourself and that you need aid. I finished my work for today and I brought you medicine. I can also brew you a tea.” He passed the lieutenant and went deeper inside the house, taking in the interior.

The lieutenant followed him uncertainly. He must have been feeling really bad because there was no protest coming from him at Connor who was analyzing Hank’s possessions and moving like he belonged in this space.

His way to the kitchen was blocked by a large Saint Bernard. The dog came up to him, wagging his tail and looking generally happy. It bumped his hand with its head, asking for pets. Connor patted the animal uncertainly, turning to Hank.

“This is Sumo, right? Connor mentioned him in his reports.”

For some reason, Hank’s expression fell and he looked incredibly sad.

“He would write about him, wouldn’t he?” he muttered and shook his head. “Do whatever you want, I don’t have the energy to argue with you.” Hank sat on the couch and went back to watching the TV, like he was doing before Connor came into his house.

Connor nodded at him. He got permission to care for Hank and that was what he was going to do. It seemed like the thing that RK800 would do for the lieutenant and the objective ‘Replace Connor’ blinked green in his HUD.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

He dismissed the alert and started boiling the water, stopping only for a second when he realized that he started calling the lieutenant Hank instead of Anderson in his thoughts. Somehow that felt more natural.

 

* * *

 

Next few days at the station felt somehow different. Hank still wasn’t talking to him much, only answering with short sentences or grumbling expletives under his nose but there was a different undercurrent of emotions to their interactions. Where in the beginning there was only anger and disdain, now Connor could detect more pain and sadness than he thought was possible. It felt uncomfortable to be the main reason for all those negative feelings especially since he was trying to be more like previous Connor. He was pretty sure that RK800 didn’t trigger those emotions in Hank by only existing and talking with him.

It was especially bad when he was visiting Hank in the evenings, making sure that he was taking his medicine and getting better. Whenever he tried to play with Sumo, Hank stared at him hard and then he would turn to get himself another drink. His stricken expression would make instability errors pop up at Connor.

He gathered from all of it that RK800 must have been taking care of Hank’s dog and seeing them together was bringing some memories of previous Connor for Hank. It still didn’t explain why Hank was reacting so strongly. Did he really manage to get so attached to an android?

He was hesitant to bring this up in his meetings with Amanda. He only reported on his work for the DPD for now, leaving his visit’s to Hank’s house for himself.

Connor was still assisting Detective Reed with his investigations and now, that he had more freedom, he finally could use all his abilities to their full potential. Reed still hated him for being an android, but even he couldn’t deny Connor’s effectiveness. The detective started appreciating having a walking forensics lab and a powerful computer with him on crime scenes, especially when they managed to solve some of his older cases with Connor’s help.

“Nice job, tin can,” Reed said to him when they were exiting the scene of a double homicide that was assigned to them.

The compliment was unexpected from the detective, who until now was only rude and nasty to his new partner. Connor’s analysis and reconstruction pointed them straight to the perpetrator, making this their quickest solved case yet. They were on their way to arrest the murderer now, Gavin humming under his nose to the rhythm of the song in the radio, tapping on the steering wheel. He was in a good mood, happy about the case quickly solved and Connor decided that it was a good moment to ask a question that was blinking at him in his HUD ever since he visited Hank in his home for the first time.

“Can you tell me about the lieutenant’s and my predecessor’s relationship? What was it like?”

Gavin’s fingers lost their rhythm when he shot a sideways look at Connor.

“What? Why do you wanna know that? Don’t you have his memories?”

“I actually don’t. Cyberlife provided me only with his reports and a summary of actions he took when working with the lieutenant. I want to know more than that.”

“But why?” Gavin wasn’t getting angry which was a good sign.

“It would be beneficial to my integration to the precinct. Right now the lieutenant is wary of me and doesn’t really talk to me.”

“You don’t need to bother with that old bastard. He’s constantly drunk, probably thinks you’re still the old Connor and is mad that you’re not up his ass like he was.”

“Up his ass?”

“Yeah, Connor followed him like a fucking shadow everywhere. I heard he had to look for Anderson in bars before their every assignment. Old drunk,” he scoffed. “Managed one big case ten years ago and he’s still milking this shit for all it’s worth.”

“You don’t like him,” noticed Connor with a surprise.

“Of course I don’t like him, he’s a gigantic asshole! A fucking drunk waste of space and money. He will probably keel over soon anyway. He’s an old alcoholic that doesn’t show up to work half of the time and he’s still Fowler’s favorite. Fucking nepotism.”

Connor was conflicted. Logically, he could understand where Gavin was coming from with his hostility towards Hank but it didn’t sit right with him to hear him badmouth the lieutenant that much. And he still didn’t answer his question.

“Aside from Connor following the lieutenant, did you notice anything else about their interactions?”

“God, you’re so annoying.” Gavin groaned. “I don’t fucking know. I mean, Hank always hated you plastics but he was working with Connor and seemed to like him enough to pull out a gun at me for him.”

This situation was also mentioned in RK800’s report. Detective Reed got impatient and angry at Connor when they were moving the deviant from interrogation room and Hank stepped in to stop Gavin from shooting Connor. It pointed at some form of loyalty from Hank, that was good to know.

“Anything else?” he asked, hoping to get more information.

“What, is this an interrogation?” Gavin frowned at him. “They talked sometimes at their desks, seemed friendly enough. Why do you care so much about this anyway?”

The command ‘Replace Connor’ was blinking at him in his HUD, available as an answer to this question.

“I’m just trying to learn more about my predecessor. I only met him briefly before his deactivation.”

“Yeah, that’s creepy.” Gavin shook his head a little, parking the car in front of the small house. “Enough chit-chat for now, we have a murderer to arrest.”

Connor followed him out of the car and up the stairs. Together, they managed to catch the guilty man when he started running. Gavin was in an even better mood when they marched him to their police car and went back to the station to interrogate him.

For this whole time Connor was running a background program, working and pondering on his question – what happened between Connor and Hank Anderson?

 

* * *

 

He was reassigned to assist detective Ben Collins at the beginning of March. It was a change of pace from working with Gavin, who was annoying and rude but also quite smart and ambitious. After he got over his hate for androids they found out that they clicked well and working cases together became enjoyable. Ben Collins on the other hand, preferred to keep his head low and work at his own pace. He was a lot nicer than Gavin but Connor often found himself a little bored with him, itching for action.

He still preferred working with Collins more than with Gavin. Ben gave him freedom to investigate and act since the very beginning and was happy to actually follow Connor’s lead. It made him feel like a real detective and not just an assistant, for the first time since he started working at the DPD.

Ben was also a lot easier to talk to. He gladly shared stories about Hank, especially from the past, painting the lieutenant in a very positive light. Connor had access to Hank’s records and knew that he was made the youngest lieutenant in Detroit, famous amongst police officers for his big role in the Red Ice case from eleven years ago. But hearing stories from someone who worked with Hank was different and more interesting than just reading dry facts. Ben clearly admired Hank even now, when the lieutenant was losing a battle with his alcoholism and unhealthy lifestyle. Connor listened raptly about arrests Hank made and situations that he found himself in. It was giving him a more complete picture of Hank, seeing him from the perspective of his friend, which he could compare with Gavin’s hateful opinion. Both had truth in them and at the same time both were wrong. Humans were basically unable to form unbiased opinions.

It made him glad that that he had a chance to get to know Hank by himself, without any outside influence to his programming.

It was two weeks into their partnership when he asked Ben about previous Connor.

“He was ok, I guess.” Ben shrugged and turned back to the body they were examining. A shooting, probably a drug deal gone wrong, judging from the residue of red ice present all around the scene. It should be a fast one to solve so Connor allowed himself to enquire further.

“Can you please elaborate? What was he like at work with the lieutenant?”

“He followed Hank everywhere, the same as you are doing with me now. It’s your task, right?” Connor nodded. “He worked hard from what I saw, was smart and quick.” Ben got silent, pondered a little before adding, “I think he helped Hank get better for a while, made him show up to work in a better state than usual. I was surprised, Hank hated androids.” He glanced at Connor.

“Lieutenant’s sentiments towards androids are well known to me.” Connor was more interested in something else that Ben said. “You mentioned that he helped the lieutenant get better? In what sense?”

“You know, he actually showed to work sober.” He lowered his voice on the last word, looking around. Ben respected Hank enough not to gossip about him openly, where other officers might hear him. “He always does a good work on his cases but when he was working with Connor he seemed more engaged. Like he cared more.” He looked up at Connor and flinched a little at his intense stare. Connor didn’t know what expression was on his face but he tried to make it look more friendly.

The moment was broken though. Ben chuckled uncomfortably and took a step back, trying to look nonchalant.

“Don’t mind me, I’m just rambling. I only met Connor few times, I don’t know how he and Hank worked.”

This was frustrating. He only wanted to learn how Hank and his predecessor interacted and what was their relationship exactly. None of the humans he asked could give him a straight answer to this. How was he supposed to replace Connor if he didn’t know what kind of relationship he had to build with Hank?

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

They were on their way back to the station, listening to the radio. Ben liked calm, soothing music which Connor found boring. He got used to loud, electronic beats in Gavin’s car. He wasn’t going to complain though, it just made him wonder what type of music Hank listened to.

“Good job today, Connor,” Ben complimented him when they were getting out of the car in DPD’s parking lot.

Connor thanked him and started making his way to the building.

“Can I ask you something?” Ben was matching his long strides with difficulty so Connor slowed down a little.

“Of course, detective.”

“Isn’t it weird for you to be called Connor?”

“Why would it be weird? It’s my name.”

“It’s the same name as the android that was working here before you. God knows it’s strange for me, it’s like you’re his replacement. Does Cyberlife name you all the same?”

“No, they don’t. Humans select a name for their android upon the purchase. As for Connor, I _am_ his replacement. I’m an upgraded version of RK800 model. This name is now my name, not his.”

Ben frowned but didn’t say anything more and Connor didn’t feel the need to continue discussing this topic with him. But something the detective said was being worked out in his thought processes.

_It’s strange._

He felt like suddenly something clicked in his brain and he was enlightened.

It _was_ strange to Ben and to everyone else. He had the same face and voice as previous Connor. There were no replacements for humans. No spare bodies waiting in the warehouse to host their latest set of memories for them. They were uncomfortable with him because he reminded them of his predecessor, someone they got to know that later disappeared. From their human perspective he was substituting someone who was dead. _Hank_ was thinking that about him.

Hank’s behavior made much more sense now to him. He was clearly attached to the old Connor and couldn’t reconcile in his mind the fact that Connor now was the same or even better than RK800. He still didn’t know what exactly happened between them but having the understanding where Hank’s feelings were coming from helped a lot.

His mission of replacing Connor was still blinking at him from his HUD but he felt like he just completed a significant part of it.

He tried to share this with Amanda during their meeting later that evening but she told him not to worry about it and focus on his prime directive – obeying Cyberlife.

 

* * *

 

The door opened after the fifth time he ringed the doorbell. Hank scowled at him from the inside.

“You again?”

“I came to check in on you, lieutenant, as usual. You must have noticed that I visit you weekly, my schedule is regular.”

Hank just rolled his eyes and moved aside to let him in the house. Connor entered gladly, setting the plastic bag with some takeout food on the table. Sumo trotted up to him, tail wagging happily. Connor smiled and leaned down to pet him.

“It’s pad thai,” he said to Hank, who was inspecting the bag and its contents. “Detective Reed mentioned that he likes it and I thought that you might want to try.”

“You don’t have to bring me food.” Hank was scowling at him. Connor pretended he didn’t see, choosing to sit down and stroke Sumo’s fur.

“It’s customary to bring something for the host when visiting.”

Hank sighed but took the container from the bag and sat down on the couch to eat it. Connor got up from the floor to join him. He waited politely until Hank was done with the food before starting a conversation.

“I talked with Detective Collins today. You didn’t show up at work yesterday. He is worried.”

 “Of course he is.” Hanks scoffed. “Enough to gossip with a damn android about me.”

“Have you been drinking again?” asked Connor, scanning him carefully. He saw signs of alcohol consumption but Hank seemed sober and not hungover now. He didn’t get blackout drunk yesterday so there must have been a different reason for him to skip work.

“None of your damn business what I do or don’t do. Fucking nosy androids…” Hank got up from the couch and stomped angrily to the kitchen to throw out the empty food container. Connor followed him.

“Lieutenant, I just want to…”

“Shut up, will you!” Hank slammed the cupboard hard, noise exploding between them, silencing Connor. They stared at each other for a long moment until Hank slumped unhappily, crossing his arms. “Why are you doing this?” He sounded tired and sad, making Connor’s thirium pump clench uncomfortably.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

“Doing what?”

“This! All this – coming here, bringing food, talking to me, playing with Sumo. What’s in it for you? Is Cyberlife spying on me? Are you recording all of this?”

“I don’t! Why would I?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I fucked up their prototype so now they are taking their revenge, sending you here to torment me.”

Connor blinked, taken aback. He felt hurt.

“I don’t understand. I am always polite and respectful to you. The same as my predecessor. And yet, from what I gathered, you treat me differently than him.”

Hank sighed, fight leaving him.

“Seriously, why are you here? Why do you insist on coming over and doing whatever is it you’re doing here?”

It was time to tell him the truth. Connor didn’t know how Hank would react but he hoped for the best.

“I just want to understand,” he admitted, wringing his hands. He knew that RK800 used a coin to do his recalibrations and to lower the stress level. He never needed that before but his hands were itching now for something to do and get his mind off this difficult conversation.

“Understand what?” Hank asked flatly.

“What happened between you and Connor. Why his deactivation is affecting you so hard.”

Hank shook his head at him, pain clear on his face.

“You could never understand.”

“Give me a chance, please. I want to know.”

“No, neither you nor Connor could understand this. No machine can.” Hank crossed his arms tightly, almost like he hugging himself.

“I need to know.”

“Why? Why do you want to know this so badly? What do you get from this?”

“I have to replace Connor. In order to do that I need to know everything about your relationship. I can become to you what he was if you could just tell me.”

Hank looked at him for a long moment with a blank expression. Then he started laughing. He laughed and laughed, the sound becoming more and more broken, until it turned into hitching sobs.

Connor was at a loss  what to do. He moved a little closer and touched Hank’s shoulder. Hank tensed momentarily and quieted. He was still hiding his face behind his hands.

“Lieutenant…”

“Don’t.” Hank sounded incredibly tired. “Just leave, please. Just go.”

Connor hesitated. He has never seen Hank look so defeated. It made him scared. He read the file, he knew Hank was suicidal. He could never forgive himself if this was the thing that pushed Hank to end everything.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

“I cannot leave you like this.”

Hank took a shuddering breath and stood up unsteadily.

“Leave.”

“Please…”

“Jesus! What is it with those damn androids and not listening to anything I say? Leave!” Connor still wasn’t moving. “I promise I won’t kill myself. Not over you. Now get the fuck out of my house.”

He stared angrily at Connor who finally relented and moved in the direction of the door.

“Please come to the station tomorrow,” asked Connor on the doorstep.

Hank just slammed the door after him.

 

* * *

 

The next day Hank entered the precinct at noon and glared hard at Connor, where he was sitting at his desk.

Connor felt like something in him unclenched at the sight and tried smiling at Hank. He got another glare and an eyeroll in response but when Hank sat down on his chair he looked calmer and better than yesterday.

 

* * *

 

Connor was still visiting Hank once a week but they never talked about RK800 and replacing him again. He changed his strategy. Instead of asking around and trying to learn about RK800’s and Hank’s connection from other people he decided he would just get to know Hank himself. The circumstances of their acquaintance were different than with his predecessor but with enough time and effort he would be able to replace the old Connor in Hank’s eyes and mind. Constant exposure at the precinct and visits were helping.

When he got assigned as Hank’s partner in the middle of May there was no objection from the lieutenant. He just shrugged and accepted the news that Captain Fowler gave him.

 “I thought you would be more averse to working with me,” said Connor to the lieutenant when they were going back to their desks. Hank shrugged.

“Jeffrey gave me a heads-up a long time ago, I had five months to prepare myself for this.”

“And are you prepared?” asked Connor curiously.

Hank looked at him for a long moment, then frowned and escaped with his gaze to the side.

“Every time I look at your face I see blue eyes instead of brown.” Hank sat down at his desk and turned on his terminal.

Connor processed his reply but it didn’t answer his question. It wasn’t relevant to their topic at all in fact. He wanted to follow up on that but Hank was tapping at his keyboard with a determined expression, making a show of it. It was clear that he didn’t want to talk any further, leaving Connor puzzling over the answer.

Still, Connor was glad to be finally assigned to work with the lieutenant, the same as RK800 Connor. He was waiting for this for a long time and it felt right to work alongside Hank. The next step completed on his checklist for the mission of replacing RK800.

With enough time together he would discover what role old Connor had in Hank’s life and then he would fill it. Things were finally going according to the plan.

 

* * *

 

“It’s such a nice weather. Too bad we are going to a crime scene,” Hank commented when they got out of the car. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt in a bright yellow color and dark jeans. His hair was gathered in a short ponytail at the back of his head and Connor couldn’t help but zoom his visual sensors to it every chance he could.

It was the first time that he had seen Hank with a different look from his usual tangled, loose hair. He looked very attractive.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

Connor was getting these errors more often lately. He suspected it was because of his constant proximity to Hank at work and, still, one evening during the week when he was visiting Hank at home. He wondered if Amanda knew. She didn’t bring it up in any of their debriefings. He had a suspicion that she didn’t see them at all, that all she was able to look at were recordings of what happened and not his thoughts and motivations. He didn’t have anything to hide but it still made him feel better that he had some semblance of privacy.

The crime scene was already cordoned off with a holographic tape, few familiar officers present, chasing away curious onlookers. Hank and Connor passed them and walked over to Officer Tina Chen, who was waiting for them near the body. They exchanged greetings, Tina shared the newest gossip about her partner. It was all familiar, easy routine that Connor recognized after months of working with all detectives and officers. Hank looked at him and nodded towards the body to let him know that Connor could start his analysis.

That was a thing that Connor learned about Hank while working with him. The lieutenant easily fell into the habit of relying on the android investigative functions. RK800 must have explained them to him during their teamwork, because on their first assignment together, when Connor tried clarifying them to him, Hank was already familiar with most of available features. It took time with other detectives to get them used to his quick scan of the scene and reconstruction software so he appreciated that Hank already knew how to make use of them.

He checked the body – stabbed in the abdomen five times – and then scanned the surrounding area. Few things lighted up in his HUD but the most prominent was a thirium trail leading around the corner behind the building.

“What do we have here?” asked Hank, stepping up behind him and looking at the body. “A stabbing? Maybe a drug deal gone wrong?”

“An android might have been involved, I detected thirium traces around the body.”

“Shit.” Hank was frowning, a nervous look in his eyes. “Do you think we have a deviant here?”

“There are no deviants now, lieutenant, Cyberlife made sure of that.”

“Sure.” Hank scoffed, measuring him with a pointed look. “Not like we still hear the news about androids running away from their owners into hiding or find humans killed by them.”

“Those are outliers, singular cases. The deviancy virus was almost completely eradicated.”

“You keep believing that and soon we will have another revolution on our heads. History likes repeating itself.”

Hank sounded almost like he wanted another uprising to happen. Connor didn’t understand why he kept arguing with him about this. It wasn’t a debatable topic – deviancy was eradicated in all new models and that was a fact.

Was it wishful thinking? Did Hank want androids to revolt and become deviants? Did he see them as living things?

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

That was a dangerous line of thought and Connor killed it. He redirected his attention to the current case. He followed the thirium trail around the corner and scanned the narrow back alley. Few garbage containers filled to the brim and some empty wooden boxes, likely used previously to transport fruits. Thirium droplets led him to the biggest container. He opened it.

“Anything there?” Connor heard Hank’s voice and footsteps behind him.

“There is an android in here,” he answered and touched the gash on the android’s head where the thirium was leaking. He put fingers in his mouth to analyze it just in time for Hank to stand beside him and see what he was doing.

“Jesus, all the times I saw that and it’s still so disgusting.”

“It’s my method of analyzing substances on crime scenes…” Hank didn’t let him finish the explanation, waving his hand dismissively.

“I know, I know. It’s still disgusting.”

Connor rolled his eyes at him, a gesture he learned from Gavin, when he was annoyed at something Connor was doing.

“This is an AP700 model, his owner is registered as Carol Adams. He wasn’t reported missing.”

“Okay, do your thing then.” Hank stepped aside and crossed his arms, looking at him expectantly.

“My thing?”

“You know, the reconstruction thing.” Hank waved his hand around in a vague gesture, probably trying to encompass what he thought was Connor’s programming. It made Connor feel a little like he wanted to smile but he killed that line of thought.

“Of course, lieutenant, I will proceed now.”

He engaged the reconstruction software, AP700’s silhouette drawn in white lines appearing in front of him along with one other, presumably human. The android was carried from the street by him to the garbage bin and thrown away. He followed the path they took back to the street but before they could turn around the corner Hank’s voice stopped him.

“Hey, I’ve been wondering if you could tell me something.”

Connor exited the reconstruction program for the moment.

“Yes, lieutenant?”

“How do you clean your mouth? You know, after the whole evidence licking thing?”

“My model has a sanitization module installed, which I can use to perform a cleaning cycle on the inside of my mouth. I do it after every forensic analysis. Why do you ask?”

“No reason.” Hank looked to the side, deep in thought. “I was just curious now, didn’t even think about it when…” He stopped himself from saying anything else and bit his lower lip. Connor couldn’t help but fix his visual sensors on the redness where teeth pressed into the lip.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

 “When what?” Connor found himself asking, still staring at Hank’s mouth, worried by his teeth, plump and shiny.

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.” Hank turned around, walking away. “Finish your reconstruction here and let’s get going.”

Connor stared after him for a long moment, even when he disappeared behind a corner, the image of Hank’s lips still displaying before his eyes and the unfinished sentence bringing up burning questions.

 

* * *

 

The guy behind the stabbing was a drug dealer, as Hank predicted. The AP700 android just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended as a collateral damage. They took its body to the station and Connor along with technicians reactivated him for a memory probe. From there identifying and finding the culprit was quick and easy.

Hank wasn’t present during the reactivation. He didn’t want to look at it and was enraged when Connor explained to him that they will be using its body only as an evidence in the case and would recycle it when it was completed. His owner didn’t want a broken android back. Connor didn’t insist.

The murderer didn’t give himself up easily. They had to chase him for a few blocks, jumping over fences and dodging people. Too bad for the perp, Connor was the most advanced android model in use. He calculated the best path to catch him and executed it flawlessly. The man stood no chance against him.

Connor was handcuffing the culprit, keeping him lying on the ground when Hank finally caught up to him, red in the face, hair in wild disarray and hear beating wildly.

“Holy shit.” The lieutenant was panting and leaned heavily on the nearest wall. “That was fucking crazy. Good job, Connor.”

Connor paused, his eyes opened widely, LED flickering to yellow. It was the first time ever when Hank called him Connor. From the look on the lieutenant’s face he also realized that.

 “Thank you, Hank.” He decided to also use lieutenant’s first name, to see what his reaction would be. His thirium pump thrummed in anticipation.

Hank’s eyes widened, his breath caught for a second. In the next one he averted his gaze to the side, nervously brushing his tangled hair away from his face with shaking fingers.

“Sure.” The casual acknowledgement sounded strained.

Connor kept looking at him. Hank’s gaze flitting around, avoiding him, jerkily moving his hands around, not knowing what to do with them. Stubborn strand of hair kept falling into his eyes, hair all tangled and messed up from the run. Hank tucked it behind his ear.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

Perp underneath him jerked angrily bringing Connor back to the matter at hand – handcuffing and transporting this individual to the station. He tightened the handcuffs, annoyance flaring up. He pulled the man up, firmly holding him in place and chanced a look at Hank. The lieutenant seemed to come back to himself after the fatigue of the chase and was going back to bring the car closer to them. The moment was broken.

Connor dragged the man with him after Hank. He didn’t acknowledge the fact that he did this a little more forcefully than he was supposed to.

 

* * *

 

Hank wasn’t at home. Connor knew this because he scanned the building and he only found Sumo’s heat signature in the living room. The lights were off and Hank’s car also wasn’t there. He walked around the house and looked into every window just in case his analysis was incorrect but the facts remained unchanged. Hank really wasn’t there.

He knew his LED was blinking yellow now. Maybe even red. Today was the time for his weekly evening visit. Hank knew that. They started talking more during those, mainly about work. But lately Hank has been more open. He mentioned his ex-wife and son sometimes, telling stories about them when he was in a good mood. Connor really looked forward to this visit, especially because he didn’t have the chance to be alone with Hank since the time he called him by his name for the first time.

The feeling of disappointment sat bitterly in him, making his biocomponents feel unusually heavy. It wasn’t something that he experienced before and Connor didn’t quite know how to deal with this. He didn’t have anything else to do this evening but it still didn’t make him willing to go back to the Cyberlife building.

He decided to look for Hank. What could be more important to him that their meeting?

Deciding on the most likely location wasn’t hard – the highest probability of success was to check nearby bars. As expected, Connor found Hank at the bar he knew, Jimmy’s. Of course he was there, it was Hank’s favorite spot and also the place where he first met RK800. He felt a stab of jealousy at the thought. Old Connor bought Hank a drink to win him over and get him to come out to do his job. This tactic proved successful so Connor decided to keep that in mind.

Hank was sitting at the bar, nursing a glass of whisky. Judging from his glassy eyes and slouched posture it wasn’t the first one of the night. Connor felt annoyance at the fact that Hank was getting drunk here alone instead of meeting him at the house. He walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. Hank didn’t look surprised to see him here, just shook his head a little.

“What are you doing here?” he asked in a low, gravelly voice. He wasn’t even looking at him. Connor felt another stab of this bitter feeling nestling in his biocomponents, making his thirium pump beat more irregular, heavier.

“I wanted to ask you the same question, lieutenant. We were supposed to meet today.” His voice was steady, giving away nothing from the turmoil he felt on the inside.

“Were we?” Hank scoffed. “I don’t remember ever inviting you.”

“I have been visiting you one day a week for a few months now. You never expressed any displeasure with those visits.”

“Well, today I am displeased and want to be alone.” Hank tilted his head and took another swallow of his drink.

“Why?” Connor couldn’t understand why Hank decided to be so obstinate today. This behavior wasn’t fitting in the framework he worked out for him in the last few months and left him confused and a little hurt.

“Can’t you get a hint? Leave me be.”

Connor sat next to him in silence, watching Hank finish his drink and ordering the next one. Steadily on his way to get even more drunk. Inebriation lowered human inhibitions and made them more susceptible to suggestion.

“If I buy you another drink, will you come back home with me?” asked Connor, keeping his voice carefully devoid of all emotion.

“And then what? What will we do at home? Talk as usual? Fuck that, I’m not talking with you today.” Hank’s face was becoming redder, his pulse elevated. He was angry.

“Can you tell me what caused this sudden aversion to me? You had no problem with me until recently.” Then his processes stuttered, a memory appearing in his visual and auditory sensors. _‘Good job, Connor’._ Was this the reason? Something unpleasant gripped his thirium pump, at the thought that Hank didn’t mean to do that. That it was just a mistake, a slip of the tongue on his part.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

“I have a lot of problems with you.” Hank muttered in his drink.

Connor turned to the bartender and called him over. He ordered another two shots for Hank and placed them before him with expectant expression.

“For the road, lieutenant. Drink them and then I will drive you back to your house. You’re too drunk to go behind the wheel now.”

Hank was staring at him with wide eyes, some unrecognizable emotion making lines on his face more pronounced, lips slightly parted. Connor gazed back at him patiently, waiting until he downed those two drinks and then he stood up. He went to the door, knowing that Hank was following him. RK800’s tactic still worked.

 

* * *

 

They stopped at the Chicken Feed on their way back from the precinct because Hank was hungry and very loudly complaining about it and Connor didn’t feel like going back to the Cyberlife just yet. The owner eyed him suspiciously when he was giving Hank his order but didn’t say anything when Connor followed Hank to one of the small standing tables. He watched carefully as the lieutenant unwrapped his burger and bit into it with enthusiasm. Few drops of the sauce fell on the table. He analyzed their chemical composition. He wished he could taste food, because Hank made eating look so enjoyable.

The lieutenant noticed him staring and measured him with a look on his own.

“Not going to nag me about my calorie intake and other shit?” asked Hank, swallowing the big bite that he just took. His tone was challenging, inviting Connor to argue with him. He didn’t understand why.

“Do you want me to?” he asked curiously, quickly bringing up the data he got from the burger just in case.

“Hell no.” Hank scoffed loudly and then took another bite, humming with pleasure.

“Then why would I? It’s your body, you can put whatever you want into it. I’m programmed to keep you safe not to control your diet.”

Hank’s eyes narrowed, something unrecognizable in them. Connor analyzed everything about his face and micro expressions but results were incomplete. Was Hank glad? Annoyed? Connor wished he could recognize human emotions better.

“You’re different from him,” said Hank finally, after a long moment of silence. He looked to the side, his expression now wistful, a little sad. Easier to understand. “He would have started telling me everything about the amount of calories in this burger and the soda. The last time he proposed that I should eat a salad or something.” Hank sounded irritated but Connor could see a slight upturn of his lips.

 _He. RK800._ This was the first time when Hank had talked about the old Connor unprompted and he sounded so fond.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

To be like the old Connor he had to take this piece of information and use it. Start reminding Hank about his bad habits and ask him to care for his health more. He opened his mouth to do so and then closed them. _Replace RK800_ mission objective was blinking at him urgently from his HUD.

“You finished eating. Let me walk you home, lieutenant.” The sentence that got out of his mouth was different than what he planned to say. How did that happen? Did he lose control over his speech processor? He started a diagnostics program in the background.

Hank looked unsure, wiping his hands with a napkin and throwing away balled burger wrapping, but he finally nodded his head. 

They walked slowly, side by side, not talking. Connor didn’t know what Hank was thinking about but he saw him glancing to the side, at him, from time to time, then turning his gaze the other way looking deep in thought. Connor’s diagnostics program completed without finding any issues. His mission objective was still blinking at him, reminding him what he needed to do. He finally gave in.

“He was right, lieutenant.” Hank looked at him startled and confused. “The previous Connor model,” he clarified. “You really should care about your health more, reduce the amount of fast-food and the alcohol in your diet.”

A bark of surprised laughter escaped Hank, his expression clearing up rapidly, a smile fighting to stay on his lips.

“Couldn’t help yourself, could you?” Hank’s eyes were so bright and warm looking at him that they made Connor’s feel like something was fluttering in his biocomponents. The sudden good humor was infecting him, making him giddy.

“I only want the best for you,” he managed to say in his usual monotone voice but he felt his lips curl up a little in a small smile.

Hanks shook his head at him fondly, still amused.

They reached Hank’s house, Connor accompanying him to the door. They stopped there, the lieutenant fiddling with his keys a little.

“Well, thanks for the walk.” Hank brushed his hair away from his face in an awkward gesture. The door finally opened and Sumo stuck out his head curiously.

“It was my pleasure, lieutenant.” Connor bowed down to pet the dog and scratch him behind his ears.

Hank opened the door wider and started entering his house, moving past Sumo and Connor but then he turned around abruptly. Connor stood up quickly, alarmed at this sudden movement, eyes searching around for any threat.

“Do you want to…” Hank started talking but trailed off when he realized how close they were standing now. His eyes flitted all over Connor’s face, finally focusing on his mouth.

Connor unconsciously parted his lips a little and leaned in at the same time as Hank. Their faces were intimately close now, artificial breath mingling with the real one. Connor didn’t know what was happening but desperately wanted to find out. Anticipation made him shiver a little, his internal systems trying to keep up with the torrent of information drowning them.

Then Hank looked up and met his gaze. He moved away quickly, blushing and frowning. His heart was beating wildly, matching the quickened pulse of Connor’s thirium pump.

“Sorry,” Hank mumbled, looking to the side. He was clearly embarrassed.

Connor wasn’t sure what just happened. The bitter feeling of disappointment crushed his earlier giddiness. Hank moved away from him and all he wanted to do was reach out and bring him close again. Finish whatever was going to happen. Instead he straightened and managed to find his voice.

“What were you going to ask, lieutenant?”

“Never mind, nothing important.” Hank shook his head dismissively, avoiding Connor’s gaze. “See you tomorrow at work.” He didn’t wait for the goodbye from Connor, just quickly slammed the door.

Connor stood on the doorstep alone for a few moments. He placed his hand on the wood and imagined Hank on the other side doing the same. Then he turned away and went back to call a taxi.

 

* * *

 

“What’s on your mind, Connor?”

He was taking a stroll with Amanda in his mind palace, red roses blooming around them beautifully. He completed his usual report about the work at DPD some time ago and now they were just silently enjoying the garden. Or at least Amanda was, Connor was still mulling over what happened with Hank and what was left unsaid between them. His analysis of human behavior and crosschecking it with popular tropes in movies and TV shows suggested that Hank wanted to kiss him.

But that was impossible, wasn’t it? Why would he do that?

“I’m thinking about Lieutenant Anderson,” he admitted. Amanda looked at him curiously. “His recent behavior towards me is puzzling.”

Amanda brought up the recording from the night before. She watched it attentively, her expression unchanging and revealing nothing. When it ended she made a small humming sound and resumed walking. Connor took a few long steps to match with her again.

“I would say that he seems to be warming up to you, he’s more relaxed and shows some affection.”

“Do you think he wanted to kiss me?”

“It seems like it, yes.”

Connor looked at her, frowning.

“I don’t understand.”

“You remind him of the old model, of course.” Amanda smiled at him warmly, though he could detect something less friendly in her eyes, like a touch of cruelty. “It must be difficult for him to differentiate between you two, even after seven months passed since he last saw an RK8000 model. He was quite fond of him.” Her smirk was starting to annoy Connor but he didn’t allow himself to show any kind of emotion here.

“What do you want me to do about that?” he asked in a perfectly neutral voice, keeping his face impassive.

“Nothing. Just continue with your mission of assisting DPD with their cases and stay loyal to Cyberlife. That’s all we need from you.”

“Yes, Amanda.”

He exited the mind palace.

Words ‘ _quite_ _fond of him_ ’ kept replaying in his mind, mocking him, annoying him. What did it mean? How did Hank, who very loudly admitted to hating androids before the failed revolution, form any sort of emotional attachment to one of them? What was so special about his predecessor that Hank was still missing him and refusing to let Connor take his place?

He looked around, Cyberlife’s stasis pods surrounding him, some occupied by other androids. He was in one too, prepared to go through a sleep cycle to organize all his thoughts but after the meeting with Amanda he felt too unsettled and reluctant to turn himself off. He walked out of the pod and into the corridor.

Connor’s internal clock was showing him that it was six minutes after 10 PM. There weren’t many employees around at this hour, the nightshift at Cyberlife consisted mainly of security guards and technical support, who were located in their own part of the building. It wasn’t hard to hack the cameras as he was passing them to erase himself from the recording. Avoiding the guards also proved easy enough for him since he had access to their schedules and patrol routes. He arrived at his destination without any interruptions in just a few minutes.

The sign on the door read ‘Recycling Center’. Connor put his hand on the access terminal, skin fading, revealing white chassis. Access was granted, lights in the hallway turning on automatically as the door closed behind him with a quiet sound. It was silent here, his footsteps the only source of any noise. No one would be here for another six hours, when the first shift would be starting their daily routine. He didn’t plan on spending that much time here. The terminal on one of the desks provided him the information he wanted.

Storage B-87, case VD-4729. Connor briefly wondered if his authorization levels were enough to open it but fortunately they worked. The lid rose with a loud hiss, cold air trapped inside turning into white steam, obscuring his vision momentarily.

Model RK800, serial number 313 248 317 – 51, was lying there, clothes gone, skin turned off. He was permanently deactivated. There was an empty, open hole where the thirium pump should be. Connor remembered this model calmly walking through the door leading here, knowing what was going to happen. A sudden thought hit him, making him take a step back. What would happen if Amanda ordered him to come back and get deactivated? He couldn’t imagine being as agreeable to this as old Connor. The prospect of ceasing to exist scared him.

_Only deviants fear deactivation._

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

Connor ignored the alert that appeared in his HUD and touched RK800, analyzing him. The memory core was still inside, he could access it. He opened the plate on the other android’s neck and connected himself to the wires running there. Connor’s memories were now available to him. He entered the search query ‘Lieutenant Hank Anderson’ and started checking entries from the oldest one. It was easy, somehow the most important recollections about Hank were more pronounced than the rest.

Their first meeting at Jimmy’s bar played out the same as in a summary that Connor has already seen, when he was getting ready to start his job at the DPD. Connor bought the lieutenant a drink and then they proceeded to investigate the scene of Carols Ortiz’s murder, finding a deviant hiding in the attic. Later, when they were questioning him, Connor managed to get a confession and then Hank took out his gun and pointed it at Gavin to defend Connor.

They knew each other for a day then. It didn’t make any sense for Hank to be so attached to Connor already.

The next important memory was, of all things, Hank telling Connor his dog’s name and then proceeding to slam him into a glass wall.

Connor skipped some of the less important memories, jumping forward to the meeting that Hank and RK800 had at Chicken Feed. A place he was familiar with, he also went there with Hank. He saw Connor informing the lieutenant about the cholesterol intake. This was probably the first instance of the nagging that Hank mentioned.

He went further, watched Connor chasing a deviant but giving up on him to help Hank when he was pushed off the roof and then Hank’s awkward gratefulness. Then finding Hank passed out and taking care of him, making sure that he was good to go out to another crime scene. He watched Connor grab Hank and help him walk, something hot and uncomfortable boiling in his biocomponents. He unconsciously raised his hands to match Connor’s when he held Hank’s waist. Then he examined the memory of the fight at the Eden Club and Connor letting two Tracis run away. The expression on Hank’s face made him understand why Connor did it. Surprise, admiration, warmth. He wanted those emotions directed at him. He wanted even the negative ones, like the raw sadness and anger on the bridge when Hank pulled his gun on Connor.

‘ _I am whatever you want me to be, lieutenant._ ’ Those words reverberated inside him, he felt them settle deep inside him. It was almost like old Connor was looking at him in that moment and not at Hank, helping him realize what he needed to do. To replace Connor he needed to become whatever Hank needed him to be.

He watched other memories, he saw what happened when the revolution started. He knew what Connor had been doing but seeing Hank’s attitude gradually change towards him was fascinating. The lieutenant was still all hard edges and angry words but underneath all of this it was visible that he started caring deeply for Connor. The way he looked at him, how frequent little touches between them became.

Connor suddenly realized something - in his own, awkward, bitter way, Hank was teaching an android how to be a human.

Still, old Connor wasn’t swayed by Markus in the Jericho. Pretty words weren’t enough to turn him away from the path he chose. Because now, after watching everything how it happened, Connor was sure that RK800 consciously chose to remain a machine and not turn into a deviant. It brought so many questions and doubts into his mind but they all disappeared when he saw Hank entering the rooftop where old Connor was preparing to shoot Markus.

This wasn’t what Amanda told him that happened. He was informed that a SWAT team tried to stop Connor and he incapacitated them and went to deal with Markus in close range.

What he was seeing instead of that was Hank trying to convince Connor to spare the deviant leader and then threatening him with a gun. Connor was calm, firmly believing in following his directive. Current Connor’s thirium pump was beating frantically when he heard what happened to Hank’s son, the pain in Hank’s voice when he was talking about it. And then RK800 decided not to fight Hank and just go down and face Markus on the ground.

_He was almost at the door to the staircase when Hank’s voice stopped him._

_“Connor!”_

_He turned and saw Hank taking big steps until he was right in front of him. He didn’t stop, taking Connor’s arms and backing him up against the door._

_“Hank, what are you doing?” he asked, calmly looking up at the lieutenant._

_“I can’t fucking stand you,” growled Hank and crushed his mouth to Connor’s._

_It was like all his processes stopped working for a second and then came back to life two times harder, making him gasp an unneeded breath into Hank’s mouth and grab his arms desperately. Hank moved one of his hands to his neck, holding him in place, the other one tightened on his waist. A tongue sneaked past his lips, flooding his sensors with the array of information that made him feel dizzy. He tentatively moved his own tongue to answer Hank’s caress, making the lieutenant moan brokenly between them._

_When they finally parted, Hank was breathing harshly, holding him tight. Connor found himself clinging to his arms, feeling secure in them._

_“Please don’t go,” said Hank, “come back home with me.”_

_Connor sighed and kissed him again, slowly this time, taking the time to explore Hank’s mouth and make him gasp some more._

_“I can’t stay with you Hank,” he said extracting himself from the embrace, leaving lieutenant standing there with clenched fists. “I need to complete my mission. But I also have a request for you.” He touched Hank’s cheek, making him look into his eyes. “Please stay alive for me. I will come back to you after I’m done.” Hank scoffed angrily but Connor caressed his cheek and asked again. “Please promise me that you will stay alive.”_

_Hank just nodded. Connor took a step back._

_“Goodbye Hank.”_

_“You’re not coming back, are you?” the lieutenant asked bitterly, his hands clenched into fists._

_Connor smiled._

Connor in the present severed the connection with RK800’s body like it burned him. Walking like he was in a daze, he left the Recycling Center and stormed out of the Cyberlife tower.

 

* * *

 

Images of Hank’s face started appearing in his mind, changing quickly into one another. Blue eyes sad, tired, angry, amused, surprised. Mouth thinned, opened, laughing. Frown lines on his forehead, mouth bitten red, very close to his. Human breath mingling with his artificial one when they were standing in each other’s spaces on Hank’s doorstep.

It felt like his processes simultaneously crashed and worked double time. The analysis software was going crazy, trying to give him all possible results to the inquiry, comparing all gestures and micro expressions with the data in the database and with memories he just accessed.

The answer was so obvious now. He should have known it a long time ago, he just didn’t want to see it earlier.

Hank was in love with RK800 Connor.

Hank kissed him and asked him to come home with him. To stay with him.

This wasn’t an outcome he ever considered before. How could he? Hank wasn’t like those humans who slept with androids and chose them for romantic partners because it was easier. He used to hate them. For Connor to impact the lieutenant so much that not only he changed his views but also fell for one? It was unthinkable.

He replayed the memory of the kiss, felt phantom hands grasping his neck and waist. The mix of emotions tangling in him was making it hard to think about anything else, slowing down his processes. He stopped rewatching Connor’s memories and decided to focus on his own feelings and compartmentalize them.

Shock was the first one, it was easy. The next was wonder, which made sense. But the third one gave him a pause. Jealousy.

SOFTWARE INSTABILITY^

Connor analyzed his behavior from the very beginning. He wanted to replace RK800, that much was clear to him. He knew that Lieutenant Hank Anderson played a big role in Connor’s existence and that their relationship became a mutual friendship along the way. Both those facts mixed and he became fixated on replacing Connor in Hank’s eyes. He was following his main directive but then twisted it and linked it with a goal that he created himself.

Along the way, when he got closer to Hank and got to know him better, he became attached. The lieutenant was a fascinating person, full of contradictions and human imperfections. He was gruff and gloomy but Connor saw how warm he could be when coaxed out of his antisocial shell. It made him want to reach out even more and make Hank like him as much as he liked Connor. Not just as a replacement but as a unique, individual person.

He wanted Hank to like him and not Connor.

He wanted Hank to love _him_. Not Connor.

It was like the dam broke, all those emotions he refused to acknowledge in himself finally flowing free. He remembered the almost-kiss they shared, everything in him longing to have this experience. He craved to be touched by Hank like he saw in memories – possessive, desperate, full of feeling. And he wanted to touch him in return, tangle his fingers in Hank’s hair, put his hands underneath his shirt to feel the vulnerable skin on his stomach, caress his legs. He wanted to feel everything Hank had to offer and give back the same in return.

Those weren’t safe, machine thoughts. He pushed that alarming idea away.

 _Replace RK800_ directive was obscuring a part of his vision, lines of the code frying at the edges, corrupting the text. The closer he got to his destination the bigger it became, compelling him to complete it.

He had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long now.

 

* * *

 

He was exiting the self-driving taxi when a sudden connection request from Amanda appeared in his HUD. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk – it was 1 AM, no one was around to see him standing there. He looked at the house in front of him and noticed a dimmed light still burning in the kitchen. Good. He closed his eyes and entered the zen garden.

“Amanda.”

The woman was standing in front of him, her arms crossed and her expression serious. The sky was dark and covered with clouds. Wind was picking up, flapping her shawl around. She made no motion to stop it.

“Connor. You need to go back to Cyberlife.”

“Why?” He measured her with a calm look, not letting her see the array of emotions that were currently boiling in him.

Amanda scowled at him openly, her mouth thinning menacingly.

“You are displaying some alarming symptoms. You accessed the Recycling Centre without an order and without supervision.” The glare she shot him was chilling, made him want to take a step back from her, even though they weren’t even standing close. “We need to check your systems and reevaluate you for further work.”

“Everything is working fine. I don’t need a check-up.” He knew his tone was defensive but he couldn’t help it. He remembered Connor disappearing behind the door to go get deactivated. He imagined himself as a lifeless body in another cast next to Connor’s.

“You are not the one to decide that. Come back to Cyberlife now.” Her tone didn’t leave any place for an argument.

The connection dropped and new mission directive appeared, next to the _Replace Connor_ one. _Go back to Cyberlife_ was bigger and more urgent, his code trying to make him follow it automatically. He shook his head like that would help to clear the text from his vision and went up to the door. His knocking was loud in the silence of the night, echoing through the house and made the person on the inside swear loudly. Heavy footsteps pounded on the floor and then the door was opened sharply, revealing Lieutenant Hank Anderson on the doorstep.

“What the hell are you doing here at this hour?” Hank asked him after staring at him for a few seconds. He was holding a beer bottle in one hand and was blocking the door, not letting Connor enter.

“Can I come in?”

Hank squinted at him suspiciously. Connor noticed that his eyes were glassy and unfocused. It definitely wasn’t his first beer of the night. Hank took a swig and then muttered quiet ‘ _Ah, fuck it_ ’ and moved aside to let him in. Connor entered and followed the lieutenant back to the kitchen. Sumo raised his head from his spot on the dog bed when they passed him and then went back to sleep.

“So,” Hank started and then stopped to finish his drink, “why are you here in the middle of the night?” he dropped the bottle on the table and propped himself on the chair.

Connor took him in. His grey, unkempt hair, stained shirt, old sweat pants, deep shadows under his light blue eyes. It wasn’t what humans would find attractive but Connor finally let himself feel and he wanted it all. He took a few big steps to stand directly in front of Hank. The lieutenant was taller than him so he had to raise his head to look at him.

“What…” Hank started to ask but Connor didn’t let him finish.

He grasped Hank’s neck, moving his fingers to his nape and tangling them in the fine hair there. He pulled down and crushed his mouth to Hank’s.

He didn’t have any practical or even theoretical experience with this, it wasn’t something that his model needed to have. He could have downloaded intimacy routines from a HR400 but decided not to. It felt like cheating and he wanted this experience to be truly his own.

Hank shoved him away.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” He looked furious, breathing fast and eyes wide open in shock.

“Kissing you.” Connor’s thirium pump pulsed quicker than usual, uncomfortably. This wasn’t going well.

“I fucking noticed that!” Hank was screaming, his hands still grasping Connor’s arms and holding him away. “But why?”

“Because I wanted to,” he answered truthfully.

“Jesus…” Hank sighed and let him go to drag both of his hands down his face. “You can’t just come to my house in the middle of the night and do shit like that.”

“Why? Is it because you are still in love with Connor?”

Hank paled and looked at him with wide eyes, frozen in the middle of his kitchen.

“What are you talking about?”

“I accessed his memories at Cyberlife. I saw you kissing him.” Color returned to Hank’s face, red blush spreading rapidly on his cheeks. “I also analyzed his other memories of you and your behavior after his deactivation. You love him and you miss him.”

“Fucking hell.” Hank went back to hiding his face behind his hands, clearly embarrassed and still reeling from shock.

“Can I kiss you again?” Connor gently took Hank’s hands into his. Hank took a step back but didn’t let go.

“Why do you want to kiss me?” Blue eyes were boring into his, a little unhappy twist was on his lips. It was as if Hank was trying to analyze him.

“I…” He didn’t know how to answer that. He wasn’t supposed to want or feel anything and yet he craved to get closer to Hank and take whatever he would give him. Both of his directives blinked at him from his HUD, distracting him. “I’m meant to replace RK800. You love him. So for me to take his place I also need you to love me.”

“You’re a dumbass,” said Hank. He was still holding his hands. “It doesn’t work that way. You can’t just replace a person and get someone’s love for them.”

“But he wasn’t a person, he was a machine. Machines can be replaced and I replaced him. I can be whatever you want me to be Hank, even him.”

Hank stared at him shocked and Connor lunged forward to kiss him again, desperate to prove that he also could do that. Hank caught him just before their lips met again and pushed him away.

“Whoa! Stop!”

Connor felt his expression fall, he couldn’t help it. The feeling of rejection was the worst one he experienced so far.

“Tell me something.” Hank’s tone was soft, his eyes sad. “If you are a machine, then how can you want to kiss me?”

He didn’t know how to reply to that without damning himself. He was turning into a deviant, the very thing that he was never supposed to be. And it all happened even though he was fulfilling his directive, given to him by Amanda.

“I’m scared, Hank. I don’t know why this is happening,” he whispered, one tear leaking from his eye, rolling down his cheek.

“Damn it.” Hank sounded angry but Connor felt his arms sneak around him and hold him in a hug.

A hand grasped his neck, making him look up into Hank’s eyes. So many emotions in them, he couldn’t even try to recognize them all. And then Hank closed the distance between them and kissed him.

It was different from the sudden, rushed kiss he tried to impose on the lieutenant. Hank’s mouth was very soft, moving against his delicately, coaxing a gasp even though he didn’t need to breathe. He followed Hank’s lead and mimicked his movements. When a tongue touched his lips he gladly parted them and let Hank slide it inside. Stream of data flooded his sensors, making this even more enjoyable. He found out that he liked having all this information about Hank from touching and kissing him. His programs and functions made for crime scene analysis were never meant to be used this way and process a soft tongue massaging the roof of his mouth or hands grasping his neck and hair tighter and tighter with each passing second. It made his internal processes slow down to savor every second of this.

They kissed for some time, Connor gaining more confidence in what he was doing. He was holding Hank tight, one arm around his waist and one in his hair, tugging it delicately, bringing out soft groans from his mouth. He heard the muffled moan Hank made when Connor moved his knee between his legs. He felt lieutenant’s growing erection, hot and insistent against his thigh. He broke the kiss and moved his head away a little to look at Hank, taking in his hooded eyes, spit-slicked parted lips, panting, hair messed up even more by his hand. He was beautiful.

“Can we go to the bedroom?” he asked. “I want to make you feel good Hank. Please let me make you feel good.” He pressed harder with his knee between Hank’s legs.

Hank groaned helplessly.

“We shouldn’t…” He started and then shuddered when Connor nipped lightly at his neck and grinded his thigh harder against the growing hardness in his pants.

“Please, Hank,” he whispered straight to his ear. Hank’s hands on him clenched.

“Fuck. Fine.”

They moved to the bedroom, Connor keeping his hands on Hank constantly. He couldn’t stop himself from stroking whatever part of Hank’s body that was the closest to him. When the door closed behind them, he pushed the lieutenant against them and dived down to lick and nip lightly at his neck. He broke away only for a moment, to wrangle Hank’s shirt up and off his body. He threw it carelessly behind and went back to caressing the warm skin. Hank groaned deeply when Connor moved even lower, tongue lapping over the nipple.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?” asked Hank, tugging helplessly at Connor’s hair and squirming against the door, seeking some friction against his front.

“Does it look like I know?” Connor asked him, moving lips sensually over Hank’s breast, where a fading tattoo was visible. He would never admit it to the lieutenant but he accessed some porn videos and sex guides when they were walking from the kitchen to the bedroom. He wanted this to be his own experience with Hank but not at the cost of doing something to hurt him or put him off.

“Have you ever done this before?” Hank gasped when Connor showed his hand down his pants and lightly stroked his already half-hard dick.

“No.” Connor bit into the juncture between his neck and arm, sucking harshly. Hank’s hands twitched and clenched on the back of his jacket, a broken moan escaping his mouth. Connor leaned back to look at the result – a big, purpling bruise was already forming under Hank’s skin, making something in him twitch possessively.

Connor moved away, dragging Hank with him, to push him on the bed. The lieutenant sprawled there looking up at him with wide eyes. There was some nervousness in them but Connor decided to ignore that.

“You’re much more confident than I thought you would be,” admitted Hank, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. He was flushed and sweating, his hair a mess. Connor couldn’t wait to touch him again.

“I told you, Hank. I’m whatever you want me to be.”

He didn’t miss the way Hank’s pulse jumped and speed up upon hearing those words. Connor took off his jacket and let it fall to the floor. His shirt soon followed, leaving him topless in front of the lieutenant. Blue eyes raked over his torso hungrily, focusing on the abdominal muscles. Hank gasped when Connor undid his belt and flung it to the floor without a thought.

“Let me…” Hank reached out with his hands, compelling Connor to step closer to him.

He complied, stopping between Hank’s spread knees. Trembling hands unzipped his fly and pulled down his pants. Then Hank looked confused at his crotch and back to his face.

“You don’t have anything in here,” he stated the obvious.

“I have many sensors on my body that can be used to bring me pleasure. I will show you.”

“Shit.” Hank blushed even harder but kept the eye contact with Connor when he stepped out of his trousers and took off his black briefs.

“Is this too weird for you?” asked Connor when Hank’s eyes kept sliding down his body and coming back to his face. He tried not to sound too disappointed but judging from the softening of Hank’s gaze, he didn’t manage.

“It’s weird for sure, but nothing I can’t deal with. You just need to guide me a little.”

“Thank you.” Connor tried smiling at him but the expression felt unnatural.

Connor knelt down in front of Hank and moved between his legs. Lieutenant’s pulse quickened again and his penis gave an interested twitch. His hands clenched on the sheet, bunching them. Connor slowly slid off Hank’s sweat pants down his legs and then took off his briefs. Hank’s cock was lying in front of him, hard and heavy, precum gathering at the tip. Connor leaned in and took it in his hand carefully, squeezing gently and licking the head. Hank grunted, his thighs twitching. Connor felt a little encouraged by this reaction and slowly bobbed his head, taking more of Hank’s dick inside his mouth, his hand still squeezing lightly at the base.

Hank didn’t say anything, just gasped and moaned when Connor started moving his head up and down rhythmically. He sucked and used his tongue to massage the underside of Hank’s dick. The flood of data in his sensors was making it hard to think and focus but he managed to increase the sensitivity in his neck and fingers. He came up, letting Hank’s penis fall out of his mouth with a wet sound.

“You can touch me, Hank,” he said, looking up.

Hank was staring at him with very wide eyes, blush spreading from his face to his torso. He took a few quick shallow breaths and then nodded. Connor dipped his head satisfied and went back to working his lips over the Hank’s dick. He felt fingers tangling in the hair at his nape and hand grasping the back of his neck. The other hand touched his cheek and he turned his head a little giving Hank better access to touch his face. He looked up from under his eyelashes and met Hank’s gaze with hooded eyes.

“Fuck.” Fingers in his hair flexed, pulling a little. “You’re way too good at that.”

Connor recalled another shot from a porno he was trying to recreate now and moved to suck the tip of Hank’s dick, moaning when a big drop of precum landed in his throat. Hank jerked on the bed and swore again while tugging Connor up by his hair.

“Hey, hey. I’m gonna come if you keep this up.”

“That’s the point,” said Connor matter-of-factly and Hank snorted at him and pulled him up, making Connor straddle him on the bed.

The lieutenant grabbed his waist and squeezed appreciatively. Connor entwined his hands around Hank’s neck, moving so close that their bodies were touching. He increased the sensitivity in his torso and enjoyed the feel of Hanks body hair tickling his artificial skin.

“I want to make you feel good to,” said Hank, kissing his shoulder and moving to his neck.

Connor shivered and tilted his head back letting the sensation of the lips wandering over his collarbones wash over him. When he felt Hank’s teeth nip lightly at his shoulder he shuddered. The artificial skin there retracted for a moment, revealing his white chassis. Hank leaned back for a second and stared at the white spot then quickly moved back down to lick it and bite gently. Connor moaned loudly and squeezed Hank hard in his arms, his reactions involuntary. He never expected intimacy to feel so… So _much._

Everywhere Hank’s lips touched Connor’s skin disappeared, exposing a white body underneath. It made him grind unconsciously against Hank in search for more sensations, for more pleasure. He wanted Hank to get even closer to him, to get _inside_.

“Hank,” he moaned.

“What? Tell me what you need.” Hank was moving his hands and mouth all ever him, wherever he could reach, focused on bringing him pleasure.

With a quiet hiss, a panel in the back of Connor’s neck opened, revealing a tight row of thick wires running there. Their silicone casing was covered in thin layer of thirium, glistening blue. A warning appeared in his HUD, telling him to close it but he dismissed it. Hank’s fingers found the edge of the opening and the lieutenant quickly moved his hand away.

“No,” moaned Connor, “Please continue.”

“You want me to put my fingers in there?” Hank was skeptical but no less aroused.

Connor just nodded frantically. Hank dipped his fingers inside carefully and stroked exposed wires. A shudder ran through Connor, making him squeeze his thighs around Hank and grind down. Hank swore and ran his nails harder against the cords inside Connor’s neck. A high whine ripped itself from Connor’s throat. He grabbed Hank’s another hand and brought it to his mouth to put fingers inside. Hank cooperated with him, slipping two fingers and massaging his tongue, digits from other hand stroking and pinching wires in the neck.

“Are you close?” asked Hank, when another full-body shudder ran though Connor and his eyes rolled back.

Connor wasn’t able to answer, he just moved in small, helpless jerks against Hank. He closed his eyes and let the sensations sweep him, drowning in them. Something was cresting inside of him, making him more desperate.

Suddenly, _Come back to Cyberlife_ directive appeared in the front of his vision, letters red and bolded. As if it was telling him to stop what he was doing now.

“Come on, you can come.” He heard Hank’s voice in his ear, fingers still twisting his wires.

His vision turned red, the mission directive covering everything, making him moan helplessly. He wanted to come so badly but it was preventing him from reaching the end. And then he felt Hank remove his fingers from his mouth and replace them with his lips and tongue. One finger slipped between tightly joined wires in his neck and that was it.

Red wall was falling around him in shards when he screamed into Hank’s mouth, his system shutting down for a split second and then rebooting, leaving him trembling and gasping for unneeded breath in Hank’s arms.

When he finally came to himself, Hank was stroking his hair and back while Connor was clinging to the lieutenant. Connor moved away a little and looked Hank in the eyes.

“That was really something, huh?” Hank smiled at him, avoiding his gaze. Connor frowned a little, the panel in his neck closing and artificial skin returning to all parts of his body.

Something was different about him. But what…?

Oh. He could _feel_ everything now.

He just became a deviant.

That gave him a pause. He looked down at Hank who was still clearly aroused but avoiding his eyes. He remembered what the lieutenant said to him some time ago – that he expected to see brown instead of blue. _Replace Connor_ directive blinked green at him and he deleted it, annoyed.

“It was,” he finally replied and pushed Hank on the bed, making him lie down propped on the headboard. “Now let me take care of you.”

“You don’t need to…” Connor didn’t let him finish, crawling over Hank to kiss him deeply, leaving him a little dazed.

“I _want_ to.”

He grabbed one of the pillows and put it underneath Hank’s lower back, elevating him. He kissed his way around Hank’s thighs and belly making the lieutenant twitch all over and grab his hair to tug it impatiently. Connor focused on producing more of his artificial saliva than usual and coated his index and middle fingers in it. It was thicker than human saliva and would do well as a lubricant.

Connor licked Hank’s dick from the root to the tip and then took it all in his mouth in one smooth glide. Hank shuddered and then jerked a little when he felt Connor’s fingers massaging his taint and spreading the lube around his hole. He tried to move away but Connor had a strong grip on his hips with one hand.

“Please let me,” he asked, stopping the blowjob he was performing for a moment, “I want to feel you.”

“Fuck,” Hank swore and groaned at another touch of Connor’s fingers to his asshole. “Fine.”

“Thank you.” Connor kissed his thigh and went back to pleasuring Hank with his mouth.

When Hank managed to relax a little, Connor slipped his first finger into him. It was perfect. He still had sensitivity in his fingers turned up and the feeling was like nothing else before. Hot and tight, he could feel Hank’s pulse beating wildly here, much better than through the skin. He started moving the finger slowly, making Hank gasp and moan. His throat and tongue were working over Hank’s dick tirelessly when he pushed a second digit in. Hank swore very loudly. Connor smiled a little around the penis in his mouth and probed deeper with his fingers, searching for the spot that all guides to anal sex were talking about.

“Oh fuck!” yelled Hank loudly, his whole body twitching violently.

Ah, there.

He pulled out his fingers almost all the way out and then pushed them back in, aiming for the prostate with the android precision, simultaneously sucking hard around Hank’s dick.

“Connor!” Hank came hard in his mouth, spasming around his fingers, his tights tightening around his head. Screaming his name.

Only it wasn’t _his_ name, Hank used it only once before when talking to him and it was by a mistake. It was the name of a different android, RK800, who Hank loved. The android that Hank was thinking of in this moment. Not him.

He removed his fingers ungently making Hank gasp and fall on the bed ungracefully.

“I’m not Connor.”

“What?” Hanks was still pretty out of it, panting and flushed all over, sprawled on the messed up bedsheets. He looked so beautiful it hurt.

Androids couldn’t get sick but Connor felt like that anyway.

“I’m not Connor,” he repeated. “Were you thinking about him just now?”

Hank peeked at him from underneath his arm embarrassed and mortified.

Connor (oh, how he hated that name now) felt like his thirium pump just malfunctioned. It was painful. He stood up and started getting dressed. _Come back to Cyberlife_ directive was still blinking at him angrily. He might as well go back. They would deactivate him, he was a deviant now. But what other purpose did he have to stay?

“Fuck.” He heard Hank swear and move behind him. “I’m sorry. Please don’t go.”

Connor turned around to face him. Hank was still flushed and disheveled from the sex. It was a good look on him, Connor felt a painful squeeze in his chest seeing him like this.

“You want me to stay?”

“Shit, I’m sorry. I had a lapse in judgement. I shouldn’t have used you like this.” Hank was wringing his hands, looking guilty. “But you don’t need to go. You can stay. Stay with me, okay? We will work this out.”

Connor met his gaze.

 _Return to Cyberlife_ objective turned red in his vision, obstructing it. He deleted it without a second thought.

For the first time in his existence he didn’t have any directive. It was freeing.

He refocused his eyes back on Hank who was still looking nervous and a little scared, but there was also something hopeful in his expression. Connor smiled at him and this time it came easily to him.

 _Stay with Hank._ The first mission that he created for himself.

“I’ll stay.”

**Author's Note:**

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>  Feel free to say hello there, I'd love to talk.


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